Despite UFC boss' anger, "Rampage" genuinely surprised by UFC 123 win

http://mmajunkie.comAUBURN HILLS, Mich. – After a pleasant week with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and watching the former champ fight through an illness that nearly forced his withdrawal from the card, UFC president Dana White was more than a little ticked by the UFC 123 winner’s post-fight behavior.

In a fight that got him back in the light-heavyweight title picture, Jackson scored just enough points to edge the elusive Machida during Saturday’s pay-per-view headliner at The Palace of Auburn Hills in suburban Detroit.

But Jackson’s post-fight behavior initially had White steaming.

“‘Rampage’ and I are getting along, but he’s pissing me off again,” White said after the event. “I had ‘Rampage’ winning that fight two rounds to one. … I scored that fight for ‘Rampage.’ He is slumping down and holding up the other guy’s hand and acting like he lost. I thought he won.”

However, Jackson, who’s been known to goof off in even the most serious situations, said he was still reeling from Machida’s late-fight rally.

“I just got done getting punched in the face a couple times,” he said. “Don’t pay me no mind.

“My trainers are in there and told me I won the fight. But when I was in the fight, I just had a one-track mind to knock him out. In the third round, he came at me so much, I forget what happened in the first two rounds. … It’s one of those things where at the time I thought I was getting my ass whooped because I was just on the ground taking a flurry to my face.”

Jackson, fighting for the first time since falling short in a No. 1 contender’s bout with Rashad Evans earlier this year, needed the win in a big way. With current champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Evans expected to clash in March, the rest of the division is jockeying for top-contender spots.

But despite his big win, “Rampage” almost never made it to the cage.

“None of you guys know this, but this fight was almost canceled a few days ago because I caught a fever from my son and was throwing up and everything and had to cut weight,” he said. “I was like, ‘I almost didn’t make it to the fight.’ But I didn’t want to let my fans down. I really wanted to come in and do everything I had and give it my all since Detroit was so pumped for this fight.”

As fuel for the fight, Jackson channeled his former PRIDE days. With his raw power and trademark slams, he once was one of the biggest stars of the now-defunct Japanese organization. But Jackson admittedly lost some motivation once he joined the UFC in 2007. He didn’t have the fire in his belly.

So, as a tribute to his glory days, Jackson entered the cage at UFC 123 with traditional PRIDE music. He said it fueled him for the bout.

“I remember PRIDE,” Jackson said. “Everyone knew me and loved me. I used to fight for honor and respect. Now I come to the UFC, and I make way more money than I did in PRIDE, so I got a little greedy and fighting for the dollars and stuff. So I wanted to come out to PRIDE (music) and get that old PRIDE spirit. I felt like some of it kind of came back. I even tried to slam Machida.”

Now, with three full rounds of cage experience with Machida, Jackson has a new outlook on the Brazilian. In the buildup to the fight, he continually blasted Machida’s style as boring and criticized his elusiveness.

Jackson still doesn’t enjoy the fighting style, but he’s not going to question its effectiveness.

“It’s different fighting than Machida than watching Machida,” he said. “I have more respect for his style. I wish I could move like that. I have more respect for his style.